Capsule



(No Model.)

L. STARKBNSTEIN.

8 Sheets-Sheet 1.

CAPSULE FILLING MACHINE.

Patented Sept. 21,1897.

W itnesses':

m: "cams PETERS co, marctu'ma. wmwmamx, use

I nve nto r.

40- Q/MWM' 8 Sheets-Sheet 2.

No Model.)

L. STA RKENSTEIN. CAPSULE FILLING MACHINE.

No. 590,502. Patented Sept. 21,1897.

Inventor,

Witnesses r NQRRIS PiTERS ca. mo'roumc wAsumsmu. o. c.

(No Model.) 8 Sheets-Sheet 3.

L. STARKENSTEIN. CAPSULE FILLING MACHINE.

No. 590,502. Patented Sept. 21,1897.

Witnesses: f 7' I Inventor. wwzgg 25w ,Q/MWM 4 u e e h S m e e h S 8 .&Nm HA M G mm RE AP. TE L U A 0 q d o M nu W I nventor. Z9 /MMM PatentedSept. 21,1897.

J27- EE 0 1 mi a M 2 I y. 7 k n I, Q v W. S s O .n N a W m: Mums P ERSto, Puma-Limb WASN 8 Sheets8heet 5".

(No Model.)

L. STARKENSTEIN.

GAPSULE FILLING MACHINE.

Patented Sept. 21, 1897.

I nvento r.

Atto rney.

W itnesses n4: noams mews co. moroumoq msumm'ou. or c. Q 4

8 Sheets-Sheet 6.

(No Model.)

L. STARKENSTEIN. CAPSULE FILLING MACHINE.

Patented Sept. 21,1897.

Witnesses: A v Inventor.

7 a nu h S F t w h S 8 Nm HA M G Rn AF TB L U A 0 (No Model.)

Patented Sept. 21,1897.

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(No Model.) s SheetsSheet s.

L. STARKENSTEIN.

CAPSULE FILLING MACHINE No. 590,502. Patented Sept. 21,1897

Inventor. QZTJA- W itnesses:

m: Man's mans co"PHO'o-=.|Tna. wuumrnon. o. c.

UNITED V STATES PATENT OFFICE.

LOUIS STARKEN STEIN, OF DETROIT, MICHIGAN, ASSIGNOR TO THE UNITED STATESCAPSULE COMPANY, OF NEYV JERSEY.

CAPSULE-FILLING MACHINE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 590,502, datedSeptember 21, 1897.

Application filed October 29, 1896. Serizll No. 610,437. (No model.)

To all whom it zncty concern:

Be it known that 1, Louis STARKENSTEIN, of Detroit, in the county ofiVayne and State of Michigan, have invented a new and useful Improvementin Machines for Automatically Filling Gelatin Capsules with Medicine, ofwhich the following is a specification.

My invention consists in an improved n1achine for automatically fillinggelatin capsules with medicine, hereinafter fully described and claimed.

Figure l is a top plan View of the lower part f the machine. Fig. 2 is arear elevation of the complete machine, and Fig. 3 is a front I 5elevation thereof. Fig. 4 is a vertical section through the flexibletube leading from the feeding-hopper and also through the capsuleholderand number-plate, which are also shown in plan views in Figs. 5 and 6.Fig.

7 is a vertical central section through the -medicine-fc.eding funnel.Figs. 8, 9, 10, 11,

12, and 13 are central sections showing in detail the reversingmechanism. Fig. 14 is a top plan view of the separating and joiningdevice. Fig. 15 is a section through the separating and joining device,taken on the dotted lines and 35, Fig. 14. Figs. 16, 17, 18,

19, 20, 21, 22, and 23 are sectional views showing in detail theoperations of the separating 0 and joining device. Figs. 24 and 25 areviews of the hopper in different positions.

I believe that I am the first man who has ever made a machine which willautomatically feed empty gelatin capsules in proper relation,

3 5 will then unjoin them, will fill the body with medicine, and willthen join them and throw them out, and my machine embraces four groupsof mechanism, one of which comprises mechanism for feeding the capsulesfrom a hopper in proper position, the second of which comprisesmechanism for unjoining the capsules, the third of which comprisesmechanism for filling the bodies with medicine, and the fourth of whichcomprises mechanism 5 which rejoins the capsules and throws the filledand joined capsules out of the machine.

Feeding mec7zmism.-This feeding mechanism consists of a hopper 18,provided at its lower end with a flexible tube 19. The hopper 18 has itsbottom 38 depressed, as shown at 39, for about oue-half of its length.The

this portion of its length, so as to form tube 37 enters through one endof said hopper, runs the whole length thereof, passing under the bottom38, and is cut away along a 5 trough in said bottom. The hopper ishinged 5 in a frame and is rocked into the two positions shown in Figs.25 and 24: by connectingrod 20, operated by cam Hon shaft G. Then in theposition shown in Fig. 24, the capsule 6o falls to that part of thebottom of the hopper into which the tube 37 opens, so that as the hopperrocks back into the position shown in Fig. 25 some of the capsules fallinto said tube 37, from which they pass down into tube 19. Vhen thishopper is filled with empty capsules, there is of course no control overthe manner in which they shall be presented to the tube at the lower endof the hopper, and some will go down body first, in which position mymechanism is arranged to operate upon them, While others will go downcap first, in which position the mechanism as arranged will not operate,as shown in Fig. at.

The presentation of the capsules is governed by the following mechanism:Below the tube 19 there is placed a disk E, having a series of holes 9therein for holding the capsules as they drop out of the tube. (Shown inFig. 4.) This disk E rotates upon a sta- 8o tionary plate E, which isshown in top plan view in Fig. 5, and the disk E is also shown in topplan View in Fig. 6. The disk E is rotated so that the feeding-tube 19,Fig. 4:, is in line with one of the holes 6 in E, and thus one cap suleis deposited in one of the holes e in E, which is rotated one-sixth of arevolution at a time until the hole in E lines with the hole 6 in Eallowing the capsule to drop into the reversing mechanism. Fig. 8 is acentral vertical section through the reversing mechanism and shows thisto have just received a capsule from the disk E, Fig. 4c. It consists ofa short section of tube 12, which is carried on a hollow sleeve adaptedto rotate in the bearing 13 and provided at one end with a gear-wheell2. \Vithin this tube lies a plunger 27, encircled by a spiral spring28, holding the plunger normally in the position shown in Fig. 8. The

end of this plunger carries a cut-off 29, passing [00 through a slot inthe tube and provided with an aperture normally registering with saidgoes through the motion empty.

tube when the plunger is forced in by vertical wedge R which is drivenby lever B, operated by cam 24. Immediately below said section of tube12 is a tube 17 whose upper end is slotted longitudinally so as to becompressible and which reciprocates through a conical opening in astationary plate 30, said tube rising and falling with each motion ofthe machine. Tube 17 is moved up and down by lever R which is operatedby cam 25 and constitutes a selecting mechanism to discriminate betweencapsules which are properly presented and those which are wronglypresented. lVhen a capsule has come down properlynamely, body firstthebody falls through the contracted opening in the top of the tube 17,while the cap, being larger in diameter, cannot pass through,and theshoulder formed by the. cap holds it in the position shown in Fig. 8. InFig. 9 two additional movements are shown. First, the vertical wedge Rin the bearings 13 allows the spring 28 to retract, which brings theplunger 27 to the position shown and which would have caught the capsulehad it come down wrong. As soon as the wedge R has raised, tube 17drops, allowing the contracted opening in the end to expand to itsnormal size, which is large enough to admit the cap of the capsule tofall through tube 17 to the capsule-holder E Figs. 2 and 3, which isidentical with the capsule-holder shown in Fig. 4.. The reversingmechanism makes the same motion whether the capsule falls into itproperly or not. If the capsule comes down properly, it simply When thecapsule comes down wrong, its cap strikes the contracted opening in thetop end of tube 17,

thus keeping nearly the whole length of the capsule in the tube 12 andthe upper end encircled by the aperture in cut-off 29, as shown in Fig.10. In Fig. 11 the vertical wedge R has been raised, releasing thespiral spring and bringing the plunger 27 back, allowing the cut-off 29to catch the capsule by the body. The tube 17 immediately drops, asshown. In Fig. 12 the reversing mechanismhas rotated half-way around,bringing the capsule in the correct position. Fig. 13 shows the wedge Rbrought down again, compressing the spiral spring 28 and allowing theaperture in the cut-off 20 to register with the aperture in 12, thusreleasing the capsule.

It will be seen that the elements which determine whether or not thecapsule shall be reversed are the difference in diameter between the capand body of the capsule and the difference in length between the wholecapsule and the cap in connection with a primary receiving-hole (in thiscase the upper end of tube 17) large enough to receive the body of thecapsule, but too small to receive the cap and distant from the reversingmechanism farther than the length of the caps and less than the lengthof the capsule. These elements cause a capsule properly presented tofall below the reversing mechanism and hold a capsule improperlypresented up within the grasp of the reversing mechanism. Unjoi'n mgmechcmzsm.E represents a disk secured on shaft 6, so that it turns withsaid shaft in unison with disk E. E has in it as many holes as disk Eand similarly spaced, so that each time a capsule drops through the tube17 it falls into a hole in E and is carried forward by said disk throughone-sixth of a revolution until said hole registers with a hole in thestationary disk E.

K represents a circular plate provided with a central sleeve surroundinga stationary shaft 8, having a gear-wheel 10 on its lower end.Equidistant around the edge of plate K three holes are formed in saidplate, each a trifle larger than the body of the capsule, but madecompressible by being slotted, and the outer lip of such hole runningagainst the segmental cam 2 at such times as it is desired to firmlyhold the body of a capsule in such holes, as shown in Figs. 16 to 21 andin dotted lines and full lines in Fig. 14. There are half as many ofthese receptacles in plate K as there are holes in disk E and plate K,which is driven by a gear 10 at its lower end, moves twice as far ateach motion of the machine as does disk E 7 represents a cam secured onthe upper end of the shaft 8 and stationary.

k, k, and 10 represent three arms, each of which is pivoted on plate Kby pins 9, 9', and 9 respectively, whose short arms extend in toward thecenter of the plate, where they are actuated by cam 7, said cam servingto always hold said arms in certain definite positions. Through the endof each arm k, k, and k a hole is formed which is of two diameters, asshown in the drawings, the upper and larger diameter being large enoughto receive the cap, while the lower and smaller diameter will receivethe body, but not the cap, of a capsule. Then the capsule drops fromdisk E its body is received in the receptacle in plate K, while its capis retained in the receptacle in arm is, which at this time registerswith the receptacle in plate K, this position being indicated by the armin Fig. 1 1, and the capsule is driven down to place by a plunger 1', asshown in Fig. 17 which is driven by lever R operated by cam 26. Plate Know advances one-third of a revolution, the gear 10 being turned by thegear L, which has upon its upper face six ratchet-teeth I and receives astep-by-step motion through the arm S, driven by cam 22 on shaft B. Thepins 9, 9, and 9 upon which the arms k, k, and k are carried, extenddown through plate K and through boxes 32 on the under side of theplate, in each of which boxes lies a coil-spring 83, one end of whichpresses against the under side of plate K, while the other end pressesagainst a collar on said pin, as clearly shown in Fig. 15. The lower endof said pin 9 travels over an inclined cam Z on the bed-plate of themachine, so that as the plate K moves to carry arm 70 from the positionshown in full lines in Fig. 1a to the position shown in dotted lines insaid figure the pin 9 is lifted, carrying with it the arm is andseparating the cap from the body of the capsule, as shown in Fig. 18,and a further motion of the plate K causes cam 7 to swing arm is, sothat the cap and body of the capsule no longer register, this positionbeing indicated by arm in, Fig. 14, and by Fig. 19. By this time pin 9has passed off incline Z, so that arm 7:; lies on the top of the plate Kand in its descent presses the body of the capsule down flush with theupper surface of the plate K, as shown in Fig. 19.

Filling 7n6C7L(L7ti-S7)t.vs hen the capsule has thus been unjoined, thefurther motion of the plate K brings the receptacle containing the bodyof the capsule under one of a series of holes fin disk F, which disk isfastened on shaft 31 and moves in unison with disks E and E through cam15, lever U and connecting-rod u, ratchet W, and lever B. N represents ahopper for containing medicine, with its spout extending down in closecontact with said disk F over the line of holes f, so that as each holef comes under the spout of said hopper it becomes filled with medicine,which is prevented from falling out of the hole by a stationary plate funder disk F until such time as the holes f register with thecapsulebody which is held in plate K, as just described, thisconjunction being shown in Figs. 14 and 15, at which time a plunger 5,actuated by cam II on shaft 0 through connecting-rods 20 and C is forceddown through hole f, forcing the medicine into the capsules. Plunger 5is retracted and plate K receives another impulse, carrying the capsulefilled with medicine through another one-third of a revolution, at whichtime cam 7 permits arm 71;, in the outer end of which the cap iscarried, to come back and register with the hole f. During theseoperations and up to this time the receptacle in plate K which has beenholding the body of the capsule and which is compressible has beencompressed by, run ning against the inner surface of the earn 2 at alltimes except when, as shown in dotted lines in Fig. 14, it istemporarily released to permit the operation of bringing the body of thecapsule flush with the upper side of the plate K, as shown in Fig. 19.

Joining mec7zcmism.-The last impulse of the plate K, advancing itthrough one-third of its revolution, brings the cap held in arm and thebody of the capsule held in plate K in line, as shown in Fig. 20, atwhich time v a spring-plunger 21 is brought down by cam G on shaft 0through connecting-rod M, so

that it rests lightly on the top of the cap, anda plunger 11 is thrownup by another cam G on said shaft 0 through connecting-rod M forcing thebody of the capsule up through the cap. Cam G, which operatesspringplunger 21, raises said plunger out of the way, as shown in Fig.2, while cam G continues the rising mot-ion of plunger 11, but moreslowly, until the joined capsule is forced out of the plate K and arm7tby means of a lever T T, the arm T of which is operated by cam 14 onshaft B. The capsule is thrown off into a receptacle 36, as shown inFig. 23. Plunger 11 now recedes and the operation of the machinecontinues as before, three capsules being unjoined, filled, and rejoinedat each revolution of the plate K when the machine is proportioned as Ihave illustrated it in these drawings.

The same mechanism unjoins and then joins the capsule after beingfilled, and may be considered either as two instrumentalities or as oneinstrumentality having two operations, between which anotherinstrumentality or mechanism performs its operation.

Motion is communicated to the whole machine through belt-pulley D onmain shaft 0, which drives shaft B through bevel-gears 16 and B.

I have illustrated my invention by a ma chine which has a certaincapacity with each revolution of the main shaft 0, but it is evidentthat this capacity may be increased or decreased without departing fromthe spirit of my invention.

This machine is entirely automatic, and on being put in motion performsall its operations regularly and continuously so long as the capsulehopper is kept supplied with empty capsules and the medicine-hopper withmedicine.

As soon as the principle of this invention is explained to goodmechanics, it is entirely probable that they will readily make changesin the specific mechanical elements of some or all of the four groups ofmechanism above described without departing from the spirit of myinvention, and therefore I do not wish to be understood as limitingmyself to the details of construction shown and described.

hat I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, isv 1. The combination, in a machine for automatically filling gelatincapsules with medicine, of capsule-feeding mechanism, mechan- I ism forunjoining a capsule, mechanism for filling the capsule with medicine,andcapsulejoining mechanism, substantially as set forth.

2. In a machine for automatically filling gelatin capsules thecombination with a reversing mechanism of selecting mechanism located ata distance from the reversing mechanism greater than the length of thecap, and less than the length of the capsule.

3. In a machine for automatically filling gelatin capsules an unjoiningmechanism consisting of two members, one of which has formed therein anaperture of two diameters, and the other of which has formed therein acompressible receptacle, means for moving said first member away fromsaid second member, and means for simultaneously compressing thereceptacle in said second member.

4. In a machine for automatically filling gelatin capsules thecombination with capstile-feeding mechanism, of appliances for removingthe cap from the body of a capsule, means for carrying the body tomechan ism for filling said body with medicine, and means for replacingsaid cap on said body, substantially as set forth.

5. In a machine for automatically filling gelatin capsules thecombination with an unjoining and joining mechanism, consisting of twomembers, one adapted to hold the cap and the other adapted to hold thebody of a capsule, of means for moving said two members in unison,appliances for moving the cap member away from and transversely of thebody member, a measuring-receptacle for medicine, means for causing saidmedicinereceptacle to register with the body of the capsule and fordischarging said medicine into said capsule, means for moving the capmember transversely of and back to the body member, and means forpushing the body of the capsule into the cap, and then ejecting thejoined capsule.

6. In a machine for automatically filling gelatin capsules, thecombination with a conduit for delivering empty capsules successively tothe machine, of a selecting mechanism having an aperature large enoughto receive the body of the capsule, and too small to receive the cap,and mechanism for reversing capsules presented to the selectingmechanism cap end first, substantially as set forth.

7. In a machine for automatically filling gelatin capsules, thecombination of a selecting mechanism arranged in the line of thecapsule-delivery and having an aperture to receive the capsule, meansfor contracting the aperture at the moment of selection to adiameterless than that of the cap and greater than that of the body andsubsequently expanding said aperture to a diameter greater than that ofthe cap, and mechanism for reversing capsules presented to the selectingmechanism cap end first, substantially as described.

8. In a machine for automatically filling gelatin capsules, thecombination of capsule feeding and selecting mechanism, mechanism forreversing capsules presented to the selecting mechanism cap end first,unjoining and joining mechanism, and filling mechanism timed to operatebetween the unjoining and joining operations, substantially asdescribed.

LOUIS STARKENSTEIN.

Vitnesses:

DAVID T. MARANTETTE, AMELIA J. WILLIAMS.

